The persistent problem of gas supply in the nation’s power sector has left 1,753.4 megawatts generation capacity at 10 power plants idle on Monday.
As of 6.00am on Monday, the nation’s total unutilized electricity generation capacity stood at 2,131.9MW, with low load demand by the distribution companies stalling the generation of 378.5MW.
According to the data obtained from Nigerian Electricity System Operator, the affected power plants included Olorunsogo I, Geregu II, Omoku, Paras Energy and Olorunsogo II. Other were Gbarain, Omotosho II, Ihovbor, Afam VI and Sapele II.
The NESO data showed that the plants on the national grid produced 4,572.4MW as of 6.00am on Monday and six plants, namely Olorunsogo II, Ihovbor, Gbarain, Azura-Edo, AES and ASCO did not produce any megawatts of electricity as of Monday.
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The bulk of the country’s electricity is generated from gas-fired power plants, while output from hydropower plants makes up about 30 per cent of the total generation.
Shiroro hydropower plant generated the most electricity (435MW) as of 6.00am on Monday while Egbin, the nation’s biggest power plant which produced 417MW followed.
According to the Chairman, Board of Director, Egbin Power Plc, Mr. Temitope Shonubi, the plant located in Lagos had the capacity to evacuate at least 860MW of power but was evacuating about 500MW.
He said, “Once the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) can evacuate the power we are generating; it simply means that there will be more power out there.”
The TCN, which manages the national grid and is still fully owned and operated by the government revealed that power generation on the national grid hit an all-time peak of 5,520.4 megawatts on October 30.
